continuing on from SOLIDWORKS World 2016 – General Session – Day 3 – Part 1 – Photo Journal

This is almost always the most anticipated part of the General Sessions at SOLIDWORKS World. Not only for the early preview of what we may see (or at least a possible direction a feature is heading) with the next release of SOLOIDWORKS. But for how the Product Team will present these enhancements. The acting is always bad, the puns are worse but it is always entertaining and insightful. This year was no different. Maybe predictable with the recent release of the latest Star Wars franchise ……….cue the music ……..

Making her “next release” debut Rachel York as Princess LayoutLuke Sketchdrawer just so happens to have a “VGA-to-DVI-to-mini USB-to-HDMI adapter”

We all know this scene!

BI-DIRECTIONAL CIRCULAR PATTERN – The ability to circular pattern in two directions, along with applying different spacing parameters for each direction

MULTI-DISTANCE CHAMFER & VARIABLE CHAMFER – Adds the ability to create chamfers with multiply sizes within the same feature. Variable chamfer with similar functionality as variable fillet

COMBINE CHAMFER-FILLET FEATURE – The ability to toggle between Chamfer & Fillet without the need to recreate the feature

TRANSPARENT SECTION VIEWS – The ability to section transparent parts

THREAD FEATURE LEAD-IN – LEAD-OUT – Building on the “Thread” tool in SOLIDWORKS 2016. The added ability to include a Lead In & Lead out for the thread

TREEHOUSE STRUCTURE PRINT – Adds the ability in Treehouse to directly print the Structure. Although NOT mentioned, it looks as though there may also be a “Export to Excel” function. It the Icon next to the Print Icon is any indication

ADVANCED HOLE WIZARD – Adds new functionality to Hole Wizard of multi-stepped holes. Along with the ability to have different steps (counterbores, countersink) for either end

SMARTER MATE PLACEMENT – Adds the ability for components to move closer to their intended location

MISALIGNED MATES – Adds the ability to force Concentric faces that won’t align to be overridden without over-defining the assembly

SUB-ASSEMBLY SAVED AS A PART NOW MAINTAINS ALL REFERENCES – Add the ability to preserve geometry references when saving assembly as a part. Allowing face identification to be maintained so mates don’t fail when replacing

SOLIDWORKS PDM LATEST VERSION OVERWRITE – Adds the functionality when making small changes (correcting spelling and the like) to no longer require creating a new version

We all know what happens next!

BOM TABLES RESPECT TEMPLATE LOCK – Table items locked in the template (column widths & row heights) remained locked when placed in the drawingNOTES CAN REFERENCE BOM CELLS – Adds the ability to select a BOM cell and add as a Note

MULTI-SHEET PROPERTY EDITS – Allows sheet properties to be changed for multiple sheets in a single process

EMPHASIZE SECTION OUTLINE – Cut edges of section view can be highlighted (bold) to standout from a standard outline

RE-ORDER 3D VIEWS – Adds the ability to re0rder the 3D Views (SOLIDWORKS MBD) by dragging to the required order

COMPARE 3D ANNOTATION TOOL – a new feature which allows the comparison of different versions of PMI data in SOLIDWORKS MBD

HIDE ALL REFERENCE ITEM TYPES – The ability to Hide all reference from the Heads Up Display in a single Function

OFFSET CURVE ON SURFACE – Adds the functionality to Offset a 3D Curve on a surface

WRAP SKETCHES ONTO ANY SURFACE OR ONTO MULTIPLE SURFACES – Adds the ability to Wrap a sketch onto any surface. With the added ability to wrap on to multiple surfaces

MAGNETIC MATES – Allows components to automatically snap together by dragging and dropping with the use of predefined references

MAGNETIC MATE ASSET PUBLISHER – Used in conjunction with Magnetic Mates. For creating the contact points for the connections using Magnetic Mates

EDRAWINGS OPENS MANY MORE FORMATS – The more the merrier! eDrawings now supports Autodesk Inventor, Catia, Creo, Pro/E, Rhino, Solid Edge, IFC, and 3DXML. There was no mention of it. but there are also listed additional eDrawings file extension .eprtx, .easmx, .edrwx. We will need to wait and see what this is all about?

OPEN AND USE MANY CAD FORMATS –

An interesting one! The ability to open and reference other CAD data without importing the geometry. The file (in this case) has a .iam extension and a “modified” part icon. Acts like a native SOLIDWORKS file but is an “imported part”

MAINTAIN FEATURES AND MATES WHEN CHANGES MADE TO IMPORTED CAD DATA – Imported CAD data now maintains feature and mate references when changes are made

As in the past DS SOLIDWORKS shows just enough to tease what is upcoming in the next release. There is much to look forward to with SOLIDWORKS 2017 ….. we all need to wait patiently now until June and the release of SOLIDWORKS 2017 – Beta

to be continued SOLIDWORKS World 2016 – General Session – Day 3 – Part 3 – Photo Journal